Paolo Maldini knew he was taking a gamble. The AC Milan left-back needed knee surgery going into the 2007 Champions League final, but postponed it and wrapped himself in cotton wool.

“I knew it would be my last chance to play in a Champions League final, I did everything I could to be there,” he admitted in 2019.

“That’s why, after two days spent celebrating, I went to Belgium to have knee surgery.”

Milan got revenge for Istanbul by beating Liverpool 2-1 in Athens and Maldini got the chance to lift his fifth European title. His gamble paid off.

Yet Maldini’s intuition was also right; he’d never get close to another Champions League final for the rest of his career. 

From the starting XI that night in the Greek capital, only Kaka was in his mid-20s, with seven of the Milan team that started over 30.

Andrea Pirlo, then 28, would be the only player to ever feature in another final, when he helped Juventus to the 2015 showpiece in Berlin.

For many of that 2007 Milan side, it was now or never. They remain the oldest team to win the competition, with an average age of 31 years and 34 days.

There are parallels with many of the current Inter Milan squad as they prepare to take on Paris Saint-Germain in Munich on Saturday evening.

Inter started the campaign with the oldest average age in the competition, with 28.5. As the competition went on and Inter’s run deepened, that figure increased.

In the breathtaking semi-final second leg against Barcelona at San Siro, Inzaghi’s starting XI was 30.2 years-old. In comparison, Barcelona’s was 25.8.

Against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final, Inter’s average age reached 31.1, by far the oldest in the competition.

Francesco Acerbi, Yann Sommer, Hakan Calhanoglu and the evergreen Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who seems to get better with age, are all on the wrong side of 30.

The youngest member of the likely starting XI in Munich will be Alessandro Bastoni, who’s hardly spritely at 26. 

Inter’s tendency to look to elder statesmen in the transfer market could go some way to explaining their weary performances in the business end of the season.

Fighting in three competitions took its toll, and while pound for pound they’re still the best team in Serie A, the sheer volume of games Inter played this season could be seen in Inzaghi’s line-ups in the final games.

Since the second leg against Barcelona, Lautaro Martinez hasn’t kicked a ball. Marcus Thuram meanwhile has been used sparingly, and the same applies to Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Nicolo Barella and Denzel Dumfries.

Only Federico Dimarco was used consistently in the three remaining league games. 

Recuperation has been the name of the game ahead of Munich. Twenty-five days separate the semi-final second leg and the final and for Inzaghi, the less his star players featured in the interim, the better.

This also speaks to the fact that with many of them ageing, like Milan in 2007, this may be their last chance to win the Champions League.

For Acerbi, Mkhitaryan and Sommer, this is almost certainly the case. Both Acerbi and Mkhitaryan have seemed to defy time, but despite this, Inter will surely look to rejuvenate the squad in the summer.

In fact, it’s an issue Inter CEO Beppe Marotta has already spoken about leading into the final.

“Investments will be made in slightly younger profiles who represent a real asset, players with potential who are an asset for the present and the future,” he said in an interview with The Athletic.

Acerbi signed a recent contract extension that would take him into his 38th year. Moreover, the Italian has been used smartly by Inzaghi, with the former Sassuolo man starting only 27 of Inter’s games in all competitions.

Should he stay, his playing time is likely to be reduced further next season. However, no matter how it ends he’ll be forever remembered by Interisti for that goal against Barcelona.

Mkhitaryan, meanwhile, could be moved on come the end of June. Like Acerbi, his contract has another year to run but the club have the option to terminate the deal a year early should they choose.

The Armenian has been one of Inter’s best signings in recent years, a Swiss army knife of a midfielder who can do a bit of everything, Mkhitaryan covered more ground in the first leg against Barcelona than any outfield player, an astonishing stat considering he was one of the oldest men on the pitch.

Yet at 36, he’s running out of time to win the one trophy that would make him the the first player to win each of UEFA’s three club competitions.

Sommer may get another bite at the cherry considering the longevity of goalkeepers. Inter signed Spanish stopper Josep Martinez last year from Genoa with an eye to the future, and Sommer may only have another year as the Nerazzurri’s undisputed number one.

Even for the likes of Benjamin Pavard, Dumfries and Calhanoglu, there may not be further opportunities to land the trophy. Kaka, who was instrumental in Milan’s 2007 triumph and a player at the peak of his majestic powers at 27, never got close again.

Fringe players like Mehdi Taremi, Marko Arnautovic, Stefan de Vrij and Matteo Darmian won’t get another chance. 

Yet this now or never element feeds into Saturday’s game, and can power Inter in a way it did for Maldini and Co 18 years ago in Greece. The recognition is that for this iteration of Inter, which will be modified significantly within the next couple of months, this is their last dance with football immortality.

Like their city cousins in 2007, Inter have memories of a final defeat in Istanbul lingering within. Much in the way Milan shouldn’t have lost in 2005, Inter still feel hard done by two years ago and were, in truth, the much better side against Man City.

In the end, Carlo Ancelotti’s band of geriatrics righted the wrong of their Istanbul torment. Can Inter and Inzaghi do the same on Saturday?